Populism and political ideologies in comparative perspective
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The rise of populism worldwide necessitates a deeper understanding of this phenomenon. My doctoral dissertation, grounded in the ideational approach, dissects populism into two elements, investigating how this 'thin' ideology of people-centrism and anti-elitism cohabits with various robust ideologies. In essence, when populism, as a thin ideology, coexists with more substantive ideologies, what nature does this cohabitation take, and how does it manifest? My dissertation endeavors to answer this question through three distinct papers that explore this common inquiry. The first study examines populism in its pure form as a thin ideology. Using the less-studied case of South Korea in a comparative lens, the research delves into the amalgamation of populism and political sectarianism. It explores how populism, when not predominantly associated with economic grievances or surges in immigration, simplistically aligns with political sectarianism. This investigation highlights the versatility of populism and emphasizes the need for regional research in comparative politics, even in areas not typically considered hotbeds of populism. The second study shifts the focus to the demand side of populism at the individual level and investigates what robust ideology cohabits with populist attitudes. Focusing on the case of the United States through original survey data, I find that populist attitudes are predominantly correlated with right-wing issues, exhibiting a weaker correlation with left-wing issues in the United States. This finding offers insights into the nature of ideological cohabitation in the context of American populism. In the third study, the analysis expands to a cross-national perspective, examining the relationship between populist attitudes and ideologies across various global contexts. Utilizing data from the fifth wave of the Comparative Study of Electoral Systems, which includes 43 countries and 52 elections, this study explores how this relationship unfolds on a global scale and finds that the relationship between political ideology and populist attitudes is non-linear, meaning both extreme left and right present a high level of populist attitudes. Employing a range of rigorous methodological models, including the Generalized Additive Model, the paper provides a thorough understanding of the interplay between populist attitudes and ideological orientations. In conclusion, the dissertation comprehensively analyzes the cases of populism existing in a) its pure form as a thin ideology, b) cohabiting with right-wing ideologies, and c) its manifestation at the extremes of the ideological spectrum, both left and right, cross-nationally. Through this, the dissertation provides a comparative political perspective on the relationship between populism and political ideologies, examining both the demand and supply sides of populism.
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Ph. D.